Coral Restoration Foundation

CRF is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to to develop coral nurseries and reef restoration programs for critically endangered Acroporid corals at the local, national and global level. Their mission is to develop affordable, effective strategies for protecting and restoring coral reefs and to train and empower others to implement those strategries in their coastal communities.

I’m sure many have read the news about this move winning the Oscar award and such. How many have really watched it? If u have not, I’ll highly recommend watching it.
thecovemovie.com

Dolphins and whales definitely do not like captivity. The recent Seaworld case is yet another reminder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/24/killer-whale-florida

Capturing them for captivity for $150 000 is one thing. Why did they have to kill the rest that are trapped by them? For their meat? Dolphins meat are proven to be mecury toxic! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film)

Since 2000, Japanese researchers such as Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, have found high concentrations of mercury, which can cause mercury poisoning, in the whale and dolphin meat sold around Japan. In their studies Taiji residents who eat whale/dolphin meat had high levels of mercury in their hair.[37]  Whale meat contaminated with mercury is commonly eaten in the town, and residents have been found to have 10 times the level of mercury in their hair when compared to average Japanese citizens. [38]  Although the film argued that the Japanese government and media were trying to conceal the facts, in actuality the Japanese Ministry of Health has issued warnings on the consumption of some species of fish, whale and dolphin since 2003.

The reason could well be what was discuss later in the movie about Japanese pride and such against Westerner telling them what to do and not. Pls dun make dolphin suffer for human pride.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_512905.html

Its mind bobbling why the japanese ppl in Taiji are doing to these intelligent animals. More than 20 thousand are killed yearly!

Take action. Take part. http://www.takepart.com/thecove

BBC

A proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, which is a sushi mainstay in Japan, has been rejected by a UN wildlife meeting.

Thursday’s decision occurred after Japan, Canada and many poor nations opposed the measure on the grounds it would devastate fishing economies.

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Scientists and campaigners working with conservation organisations were disappointed with the outcome.:

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The US, which supported and lobbied for the ban, also described the outcome as “disappointing”.

“Today’s vote was a setback for the Atlantic bluefin tuna,” said Tom Strickland, head of the nation’s CITES delegation.

“But we will keep fighting to ensure that the fishery is managed sustainably, so that future generations may see it return to health.”

US officials said they would be pressing governments to live up to promises to control fishing through Iccat.

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Japan – the principal bluefin-consuming nation – had made its opposition to the proposal clear before the CITES meeting started.

It argues that commercial fisheries should be managed through bodies such as Iccat.

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The vote on the original motion then went down by 68 votes to 20.

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Sue Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environment Group, suggested lobbying from the fishing industry was ultimately responsible for the defeat.

“This meeting presented a golden opportunity for governments to take a stand against overfishing, and too many governments failed to do so,” she said.

“The market for this fish is just too lucrative, and the pressure from fishing interests too great, for enough governments to support a truly sustainable future for the fish.”

CITES votes can be reviewed on the meeting’s final day, but the substantial margin of defeat suggests this one will not be.

Earlier in the day, a US-sponsored motion seeking to ban international trade in products made from polar bears was also defeated.

Opponents argued that the species’ main threat was not trade, but climate change. Some conservation groups – including Traffic – did not support the proposal, therefore.

There were also concerns that banning the trade might hurt indigenous peoples around the Arctic who sometimes hunt the bears for meat.

reefvideo.net

coralsforconservation.com

Coral Gardening from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.

Many reef aquarium owners get their corals by trading them with nearby reefkeepers. Once corals get to a certain size it’s pretty easy to propagate (or frag) them by cutting off a branch here or a a few polyps there. It’s usually cheaper and easier than buying from a local dealer and the corals tend to do much better in the long run, because they haven’t gone through so much shipping stress. It’s also a good way to “insure” your corals because if anything ever happens to a coral you in your aquarium, you can just go back to your friend and ask him to cut you off a piece of the coral you gave him. The hobby has begun to depend on tank raised corals so much that many places that sell corals are beginning to change their stock to include more corals that are grown inside aquariums.

In this video by Jonathon Clay, locals and resort owners who live around large reefs are propagating corals in a similar fashion as reef hobbyists. A group called Corals for Conservation teaches people to preserve declining reefs and fish populations by coral gardening. The idea is that by preserving and regrowing reefs, fish will come back to the area and help replenish areas that have been over-fished.

The methods they use are very similar to that of the common aquarium keeper. The main difference is that it is on a larger scale and they use the ocean as their aquarium. It is a genius idea, promotes conservation, educates, creates jobs and supports the local community. Hopefully we will see more of these projects popping up throughout the world.

This is a sequence from the film “Fragile Paradise“, part of the BBC’s documentary series “South Pacific.“

www.ageofstupid.net

‘The Age of Stupid’ is the new cinema documentary from the Director of ‘McLibel’ and the Producer of the Oscar-winning ‘One Day in September’. This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching ‘archive’ footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change while we had the chance?

Stomp.com.sg

STOMPer Eric was having lunch at a seafood restaurant in Johor when he saw a whale shark being hauled into the jetty and hacked to pieces.

In an email to STOMP today (Aug 24), the STOMPer says:

“These pictures were taken yesterday at a jetty in southern johor.

“I was there having lunch with some friends at a seafood restaurant when a local walked in and told the boss that a big shark was caught.

“I did not give much thought to it until the workers who went there to see came back and told their fellow colleagues that the shark was as big as a pick-up.

“This caught my attention. We paid for our meal and went over to the jetty to have a look.

“When we reached the jetty, it was already quite crowded. I managed to squeeze in some photos as the poor shark was being sliced by a hack saw.

“I’m not too sure who caught it but heard it was brought in by three fishing boats from the South China Sea.

“As you can see, the shark was being chopped up, did not stay long to watch as we had to catch our ferry.

“Seeing the poor guy being chopped up, I was quite sad.

“What you see in picture is very different from the actual situation. There was the noise from the hack saw, blood flowing out etc.”
Click on link to see more pix

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National Geographic

environment.gov.au

Fast Facts

www.sfgov.org

Measure is Key to Reaching 75% Landfill Diversion

06/23/09 – Mayor Gavin Newsom today signed mandatory recycling legislation requiring residential and commercial building owners to sign up for recycling and composting services.

Mayor Newsom’s ordinance will require all residences and businesses in San Francisco to take advantage of the city’s recycling and composting collection programs. While several other cities require recycling service and participation, San Francisco is the first city to require the collection of food scraps and other compostables. Refuse collection has been mandatory since the 1930s.

“San Francisco has the best recycling and composting programs in the nation, and we’ve already attained an impressive, and first in the nation, 72 percent recycling rate because of them,” said Mayor Newsom. “I am pleased with the leadership the Board of Supervisors has demonstrated on this important legislation. By collaborating with all of our stakeholders, businesses, colleagues, and citizens, we can build on our success and continue to lead the nation in recycling.”

A comprehensive study conducted by the Department of the Environment found that 36 percent of what San Francisco sends to landfills is compostable, primarily food scraps, and 31 percent is recyclable—which is mostly paper. There are facilities in the City and surrounding areas that reuse, recycle, compost or otherwise process and market most materials discarded in San Francisco, saving this material from landfill and creating green-collar jobs.

Newsom said a primary goal of the mandatory recycling ordinance, which was co-sponsored by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly, is to get recycling and composting happening in buildings where it is not currently provided.

According to the San Francisco Department of the Environment, if all of the recyclable and compostable materials currently going to landfills were captured by the city’s programs, San Francisco’s recycling rate would soar from 72 percent to 90 percent.

No fines are specified in the ordinance, but there is a cap of $100 established for residences and businesses that generate less than one cubic yard of refuse per week, which is the equivalent of six 32-gallon carts. Fines higher than $100 may still apply to businesses and to landlords of large apartment buildings who refuse to offer recycling and composting opportunities to tenants when feasible.

Newsom said that cities with mandatory recycling and fines, such as Seattle, rarely assess such fines. He stressed that fines serve primarily to heighten public awareness and encourage compliance.

www.saveyourlogo.org

An innovative project for biodiversity

Many companies and organizations use plant or animals in their logos, from the Lacoste crocodile to the MAAF dolphin.

The principle of Save Your Logo is simple:

Save Your Logo creates an opportunity for companies represented by a plant or animal in their logo to contribute to the conservation of that species.

Save Your Logo is an innovative global initiative in the field of biodiversity that involves public and private funding, with supports like the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the World Bank, the International Union for Nature Conservation and the Endowment Fund for Biodiversity.

The 3 stages of Save Your Logo

Conservation

The funds from the private sector will be invested in the Endowment Fund for Biodiversity and will then be distributed to organizations that specialize in biodiversity and local conservation projects.

The selection and follow up on these grants will be managed by a steering committee of representatives from the World Bank, the IUCN, the GEF and the Endowment Fund for biodiversity.

Part of the private sector funding will be used to finance the creation of an  Emergency Fund for the conservation of for lesser known species that are found on the IUCN Red List.

All these efforts will be overseen by independent auditors and the court of auditors.

This public-private partnership will engage new partners from the corporate sector in the conservation community and complement existing conservation efforts. A robust education outreach campaign will engage the general public to participate in this effort.

The status of all conservation projects will be updated on a daily basis on the website.

Education: A Global and Multimedia Project

Save Your Logo will create the first global observatory for biodiversity using a multimedia platform to communicate about it programs, creating a community of people interested in plant and animal biodiversity and the health of the planet.

Engagement and Interactivity

Our mission is to create a global community around a common objective. The conservation of the planet’s diversity among and with plant and animal species. Preserving the planet and its biodiversity is essential in the survival of the human species.

earthhour.org

THIS SATURDAY 28 MARCH AT 8.30PM YOU CAN VOTE EARTH BY SWITCHING OFF YOUR LIGHTS FOR ONE HOUR – EARTH HOUR.

powerdownfortheplanet.org

Most computers waste half of the energy delivered from the wall – wasting money, wasting energy, and generating excess heat. However, most people do not know that there are easy ways to make computing practices greener and less wasteful.

This is where you come in. Pick up a camera and create a video telling the Climate Savers Computing story. The challenge is to develop original and creative videos that educate, entertain, and/or inform others about the importance of energy efficient computing to the global environment.
How do we spread the word about slowing climate change through energy efficient computing?
How do poor computing practices waste energy?
What will the impact of better power management have on our environment?
What does sustainable computing mean to you?

Your voice counts – so tell a friend, tell the world, and tell the electronics industry that energy efficient products are important. Check out some of the other videos for inspiration. Let your imagination go wild.

Winners will receive prizes including cash, Specialized bicycles, HP laptops, and Microsoft software. We can’t wait to see what you create.